Is it really the end of December already?

8x10 print by MyZoetrope

Wow - what a year it has been! I can honestly say that 2011 has been one of the most exhausting, and rewarding years of my life. Even though it was 11 months ago, it seems like just yesterday that I joined
this lovely group of crafters, artists and designers I now call my NewNew family! In this short time I have met some of the most talented people in all of New York! Each one of you has taught me something great, and for that I am so very thankful!

Tips for Preparing Your Business Financially for the New Year

Happy post-holidays! We at Outright hope that you had the best winter holiday possible and, of course, that you got everything that you wanted.

But everything good must come to an end, and that includes hanging back and relaxing. Now it’s time for all of us to get ready for the New Year. More specifically, it’s time to get ready for all the tax time madness that’s soon to come.

To help you out, we’ve prepared a few tips to help you and your business ease into 2012.

Inventory

When do you usually take inventory? If you do it when it’s tax time, you’re more than likely misrepresenting yourself. For tax purposes, you want to record what you had at the end of the year, not what you have in April. This is because the taxes are for 2011, and you may have amassed some material in the beginning months of 2012.

Instead of writing items down to take inventory, consider taking pictures of everything. This way you can also visualize your stock instead of merely trying to organize a spreadsheet months from now.

Pictures

Speaking of pictures, snap a few photos of your home office or workspace at the end of the year. There are several deductions you can take if the space you work in qualifies as a home office for tax purposes, and these can add up to some big savings in April. Some of these deductions include phone bills, office furniture, and even a portion of rent/mortgage.

The pictures will help not only prove you own what you say, it can also help your tax preparer find even more deductions for you to use.

Get Rid of Some Money

I don’t mean just throw it out the door (unless I’m in the neighborhood, then go ahead). But there are special deductions for 2011 that can help you out if you can risk the extra expenditure.

For instance, there’s the Section 179 deduction. It allows small businesses to expense up to $500,000 in equipment purchases made in 2011. Did you have any big equipment purchases you were considering? See if you can buy them up in the last minutes of this year to get the deduction.

And of course there’s always charity, arguably a better use of your money. You don’t always have to give money, though. If you’re looking to buy new inventory, your old and unused inventory would make a good charitable donation. It can lead to some nice deductions on your taxes. Keep in mind, though, once you donate over $500 worth of goods, the rules and requirements get tougher.

Outright

In order to get a good read on your taxes before you actually file your taxes, take a gander at your Outright account. There, you can get a good idea what you may owe in taxes and if you should take action to get additional deductions. With a little foresight and planning you’ll be in good shape come April!

About the Author:
Laura Messerschmitt is the Vice President of Marketing at Outright, a free online accounting software for small businesses. She loves helping the self-employed and small businesses to be more successful and grow their businesses.

Good Tidings To You

Bee's Stocking with Pins Made by Her Mother Annie

The holidays are literally on top of us, so to share what we at the {NewNew} are doing at this time, here is a roundup of the different holiday traditions of our team members:

Much Merriment

For Chanukah, Alexa of Roseground used to visit her grandmother to light candles and celebrate. "After candles and before presents, my grandma would put out a big pot full of coins (mostly pennies, but some larger coins), and we would all take a handful of coins and put it in a pot for charity, and another handful of coins and put it in a baggie for ourselves (though I usually lost mine playing dreidl
afterwards)."

Kelly of Aperture Agog and her family love to play games so much that her aunt has put together a family jeopardy game for Christmas that includes categories like "family history" and "Christmas Carols."

In true Etsy fashion, Jacqueline, who runs ChelseaRainbow, is busy making all her gifts for her family party that will take place at her cousin's house.

Christmas Mistletoe To-Go by Hook and Matter

Figgy Pudding

As with all celebrations, food is also at the center of our family gatherings: Lauren, a.k.a. LolaFalk begins Christmas Eve by sharing/breaking the Oplatek - a thin, crisp wafer that typically has a nativity scene imprinted on it.  The ritual is that the eldest member of the family starts with the wafer, breaks off a piece and offers it to another family member with a blessing of good wishes for the upcoming year.  It then moves through family member to member with the breaking and the blessing passing through.

Sara of S2 Stationery is becoming the keeper of her family's secret Honduran tamale recipe. She has been making these tamales with the women in her family since she was a small child and the recipe which has never been written down, has now passed from her grandmother to her mother and to her. It includes 2 special corn based mixtures and a filling of capers, raisins, and potatoes.

For Natasha, the proprietress of Wink and Flip, the Carlyle Hotel has always been a special place for important family events and Christmas morning you will find her there with her clan pondering whether to take on the enormous breakfast buffet or order a la carte.

Dreidel Kitty by MyZoetrope

Light the Lights

As the days are getting shorter, we all enjoy the cheerful decorations of the season. Melissa of be in the moment and her family always take in the Christmas decorations on the drive home from Midnight Mass.

Bee was born in 2008 and every Christmas since then her mother Annie of Brooklyn Owl has added a new pin to her stocking. The stocking pins, baking molasses cookies, watching "Home Alone" Christmas morning, and building crazy blanket forts are becoming part of this little girl's holiday memories.

With the arrival of Baby Xander, Jenn of Firelight Jewelry and her family are also making new traditions. They will begin with a reading of the Grinch, and conclude with a gathering via Skype to hang out with her family in Ireland and open presents together.

Amy of Sweet Olive Jewelry grew up with this tradition:
"Growing up, we always had the tradition of waiting until Christmas Eve to put up the Christmas tree. Usually that meant waiting until Christmas Eve to BUY the tree too! Throughout the years we ended up with trees my brother called "Charlie Brown trees" because they were sad, misshapen and usually
heavily discounted. A few times, we were so late that the lots were already closed and we just had to leave the money for our tree."

Hoping that all little trees will get this much love and that Ruby won't have to work too much this weekend, we at the {NewNew} wish you a very Happy Holiday and thank you for hanging out with us this year!

Simone
groundsel.etsy.com

Wrapping Your Holidays With Eco-Love

Good December, {NewNew} readers!

Last month, I promised you a blog with tips on how to eco-friendly decorate your home for the Holidays. I'm sorry to break the news to you, but I'm not writing about that this month. Instead, I'm sharing my favorite eco-friendly alternatives to gift wrap.

Yes, we are talking about decorating under the tree for your loved ones and the planet. I think it's a trade-off, but don't worry, you will get your tips for eco-friendly Holiday decorating. You can hold me to it!

Sending Out Christmas Cards

This time of the year I get that spoof Christmas song in my head based on the 12 Days of Christmas. You know it...the 12 Pains of Christmas. The Fourth thing at Christmas that's such a pain to most people is sending Christmas cards.

What? Why?! Obviously as a stationery maker, I look forward to sending AND receiving holiday cards, but I can understand...it's one more thing to do & an easy one to leave to the last minute. So! Here are some quick ways to get them done - all great cards that you can print at home!

Printable Christmas Card - Bird Wreath Greeting with Personalization Option

Holiday Rush!

Oh, my goodness, are we in the thick of it now! For crafty biz people like me it's like final exams every week for a month, with the biggest, baddest exam coming up this weekend, the last shopping weekend before Santy Clause makes his annual visit. It's so busy, I'm taking cat-naps on the couch, eating mac and cheese at the kitchen counter, walking the dogs at all hours of the night, and probably not changing my clothes often enough.

Getting ready is as much mental as it is physical (in the sense of making enough stock to satisfy the hoped-for overwhelming demand). For me it involves coaching myself not to freak out, to just keep cutting, sewing, gluing, painting. Sleep can wait. It's a long slow winter.

To see the results of my and over 80 other local artisans' "making" madness (including that of many NewNew members), swing by the first ever Yelp Giftacular Holiday Market in downtown Manhattan this Saturday and Sunday, December 17 and 18, from 12 to 6 PM. And/or check out any of the numerous other local handmade holiday markets happening throughout the City. For a comprehensive list of these happenings, visit the Markets of New York Holiday Market Guide. It rocks.

Happy handmade holiday shopping!

Until next time -

Linda/Purty Bird

Trimming the Tree

Can someone please tell me how it's December already? Didn't we just celebrate the fourth of July? I'm not complaining though because I love the holidays - and I love decorating for them even more! I put on the some holiday music (currently toggling between Glee's holiday album and A very She & Him Christmas, light my mistletoe candle (my tiny NY apartment can't accommodate a real size tree sadly) and get decorating!

This year I decided to make my tree a little more personal and make poloroid photo frame ornaments. This way I cam be reminded each day of the people and things that make the holidays great!

Making these ornamens is easy and a fun family activity that even the young set of kids can get involved with.

Ornament Supplies!

All you need is:

• White Felt Fabric 
• glue 
• Ribbon 
• Photos 
• Scissors 
• Measuring tape 

To make the ornaments cut the felt into 3.5 x 4.5 inch rectangles. For each ornament you will need two pieces. In the front piece, cut out a 2.5"x2.5" square 1/2 inch from the top and the sides. There should be more space on the bottom of the piece so it looks like a poloroid.

Cut a pice of ribbon long enough to hang the ornament from your tree. Mine was about 5 or 6 inches long.

Leave one side glue free!

Next flip over the felt and place glue on three sides - the top, one side and the bottom. Take the piece of ribbon you cut and place both ends on the top part of the ornament on the glue. Put a little more glue on the ribbon ends and then attach the back piece of felt.

Cut your photographs slightly larger than the hole (about 3" x 3") and slide them in in the side that is not glued. Hang and enjoy!

Happy Holidays from Kelley!
Kelley Gudahl Photography

Connect!

If you have an Etsy shop and a Facebook fan page that you use to connect with your customers, you will be happy to know that it is now even easier to link the two.  This allows shoppers to instantly like your shop's Facebook page from your Etsy shop while browsing your wares. Once the connection is established, you can post items from your shop to your Facebook account without having to switch from your shop to Facebook.

Here is an image of my fairly new shop, The Hairy Vetch, where I sell hair accessories. It's not connected to the social world yet and looks a little lonely.

 

Clicking on the Facebook icon under the shop banner brings me to the Info and Appearance page of my shop. From there I can select the Facebook page I want to connect to the shop and instantly the Facebook Like button appears on the page.

 

Once I click the Like button, Facebook registers that I am my first fan!

Use the same process to connect your shop to Twitter. With a Twitter connection:

• Shoppers will see a Follow button for your Twitter account below the banner of your Etsy shop.
• You’ll be able to tweet about each new listing you add to your shop.
• Anyone who has Followed you through Etsy will see your updates in their Twitter Timeline.

Now I should start my conversation with my future fans. For some tips on how to have a meaningful and professional social media presence in your shop, check out Etsy's Guide to Facebook.

Let's connect!

Thank you to Etsy a Holiday Handmade Cavalcade sponsor.

Simone
groundsel.etsy.com

Just ONE day until the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade!

Saturday is The {NewNew} Holiday Handmade Cavalcade
You Do Not Want To Miss This Event!


For one day only during the holiday season shoppers can load up on clothing, jewelry, accessories, paper goods, bath and body treasures, toys, housewares and more, all handmade by some of the most creative local artisans and crafters in the NYC metropolitan area.
Where: Public Assembly 70 North 6th Street in Brooklyn
When: 10 am-6 pm Saturday December 3rd


The first 200 shoppers to arrive will receive free goodie bags packed with a unique sampling of wares from the {NewNew} - so come early!


With each purchase, shoppers will get a raffle ticket entry for a prize package filled with great {NewNew} wares!


In keeping with its tradition of partnering with local non-profits, the {NewNew} will have representatives from The Brooklyn Community Foundation, an organization that improves the lives of Brooklyn residents and their communities.


Hope to see you!
Holly / EllisDesign

Join the {New New} this Weekend at the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade!

The Holiday Handmade Cavalcade is almost here!  Saturday, December 3rd from 10am-6pm at Public Assembly, 70 North 6th Street, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Join us at this one-day-only event to pick up something for everyone on your holiday shopping list!

This year, the {NewNew} welcomes the Brooklyn Community Foundation to the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade.  The Brooklyn Community Foundation is the first and only community foundation devoted exclusively to the people of Brooklyn. It is dedicated to improving the lives of people in Brooklyn by strengthening communities through local giving, grant making and community service.  The Brooklyn Community Foundation is a partnership of donors, nonprofit groups, civic leaders, and all those that care about Brooklyn.  They strive to collaborate, convene and communicate in ways that promote generosity, civic involvement, good public policy and caring for our neighbors and neighborhoods. To learn more about the Brooklyn Community Foundation, visit their website at http://www.brooklyncommunityfoundation.org/.

See you this Saturday at the Cavalcade!  

For one last peek at the 35 local crafters and artists who will be present, 

visit www.handmadecavalcade.com.

Karin / Better Than Jam

Gifts for Kids - A {NewNew} Shopping Guide

Is not the best part of the holidays watching kids squeal with pleasure as they excitedly unwrap their presents? The {NewNew} has the cutest and most original gifts for kids. Below is a small sample, and you can find all these crafters - and more - at our annual Holiday Handmade Cavalcade TOMORROW!!!

How adorable is FeltIt's Moose on Yellow Baby T-shirt? OverallBaby uses the most eye-catching and vibrant fabrics for her clothing, such as this Overall in Pop Art Fast Food.
WindowsofAgate has tons of great things for kids, but this Art Wallet with NYC Coloring Book in an adorable giraffe pattern (click here to see what it looks like closed) is one of my favorites.











































Any one of PurtyBird's Owls will be a little one's best nighttime buddy but the whole family would be amazing!
I dare you to not "awww" when you see EllisDesign's Children's Kitten Hat. Cuteness personified! (Hattified?)
Begin an heirloom tradition with RosiRouge's hand-appliqued Animal Wrapper with vintage fabrics.
What child - or child-at-heart - wouldn't want to wake up to this cheerful Royal Rabbit, an original watercolor by MyZoetrope?
I wish you all the joy of the season. May you see it with child's eyes.

Until next time,

LuCrafts